Contents

Abstract

This document reports the results of a literature review undertaken as
part of a larger project focused on harnessing land values as a way of
funding urban infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa. The field of the
literature review was public transport infrastructure in Sub-Saharan
African cities. The questions that guided the literature review
included:

What role do public transport systems play in facilitating the
productivity of city economies, and the provision of equitable access
to city labour markets?

What is the state of public transport systems in Sub-Saharan African
cities, and through what historical processes did the status quo
emerge?

What alternative approaches to improving/reforming existing public
transport systems have been implemented or considered, and where
implemented, what is the evidence of their impact?

What are the implications of the different approaches to public
transport system improvement/reform for financing arrangements, and
equity?

It is concluded that the available literature, while showing encouraging
growth in recent years, has many gaps. Much attention is still required
to explore the details of contextually appropriate mechanisms for public
transport improvement and reform, and to record the many challenges and
lessons that existing programmes have encountered. The distributional
equity and city productivity impacts of different approaches to
improvement and reform are also poorly demonstrated, as are the
institutional preconditions for success.